Dragons drop first game of season to 6A Wheeler
PHS Baseball, Team FYN Sports February 28, 2021
Pickens County, Ga — As we said in the Murray County/Pickens recap article, Saturday, February 26th was a busy day as far as baseball went. After the game between the Indians and Dragons finished, Murray County took on the Lumpkin County Indians. After a good back and forth game which saw Murray try to come back late, Lumpkin came away with a 10-6 win. The third game of the day saw Lumpkin take on the Wheeler Wildcats. Wheeler, was the biggest school in terms of classification as they are a 6A school. Lumpkin hung with Wheeler for the better part of the game as the Wildcats came away with an 11-4 victory in game 3. Game 4 saw the host team, the Pickens Dragons take on Wheeler in the night cap. After a tough time in the middle innings for the Dragons, Wheeler picked up the win, 16-2.
Freshman Connor Shouse made the start for the Dragons and pitched very well against the 6A school. The Wildcats, picked up 2 hits, but were held to just 1 run in the top of the first. In the bottom of the first, Pickens got a 2-out double from Hunter White, and Seth Densmore was able to reach 1st base on an error. The two runners were left stranded however and we headed to the second with the Wildcats lead the Dragons, 1-0.
In the top of the second, Shouse racked up his first three strikeouts of the game, but Wheeler was able to push across another run as they increased their lead to 2-0 going to the bottom of the second. In the bottom half of the inning, Jarod Whitmore led off with a single, Trace Ledbetter followed with a single of his own, and Evan Giddens brought in Whitmore after a sacrifice bunt to make it 2-1 Wildcats as we would head to the third.
Shouse found his groove in the top of the third as he needed only 11 pitches to get out of the frame and picking up his 4th strikeout in the process. The Dragons went quietly in the bottom of the third. As we went to the fourth inning, Wheeler still held a slim 2-1 lead.
After the first batter for the Wildcats reached on an error to begin the fourth inning, Shouse settled down and picked up his 5th and 6th strikeout of the game to send us to the bottom of the inning. In the bottom of the fourth, Ledbetter was left stranded on 1st after a 2-out single. Going to the top of the fifth, Wheeler still held a 2-1 advantage.
In the top of the fifth, Shouse picked up his 7th strikeout for the first out of the inning. The Wildcats, scored 5 runs in the top half of the inning to give them a 7-1 lead going to the bottom of the frame. In the bottom of the fifth, Shouse, now over a shortstop, got hit by a pitch with 1 out, White walked, Densmore got hit by a pitch, and Drake Sutton brought in Shouse after drawing a walk to make it 7-2 Wheeler going to the sixth.
The top of the sixth inning, was not kind to the Dragons. The Wildcats would score 9 runs in the top of half of the frame to make it 16-2 as we would head to the bottom of the inning. The Dragons, went down in order in the bottom of the sixth and the Wheeler Wildcats took this one, 16-2.
The Pickens Dragons will look to regroup as they will host the Lumpkin County Indians on Tuesday in non-region action. First pitch is set for 5:30 pm at Dunn Field.
Dragons stay hot to open the season, defeat Bobcats
PHS Baseball, Team FYN Sports February 25, 2021
Pickens, County Ga — The Pickens Dragons baseball team (4-0) have started the 2021 season off on an exciting note. They opened the season with an 8-7 comeback win at Dawson on February 17th. The Dragons again defeated the Tigers at home, 10-7 on February 18th. On Tuesday, February 23rd, the Dragons traveled to Lumpkin and defeated the Indians, 16-7. On Thursday, February 25th, Pickens welcomed their rival, the Gilmer Bobcats (1-3), to Dunn Field for a non-region contest. This game, was originally scheduled for Friday, but was moved up due to impending weather. The Dragons kept their hot start to the season going with a 13-3 win over the Bobcats in 5 innings.
In the top of the first inning, the Bobcats were unable to take advantage of two Dragon errors as Dragons starter Seth Densmore forced a ground out to send us to the bottom of the inning. In the bottom of the first, Connor Shouse led off with a walk, Anthony Antinozzi reached on an error, Hunter White drove in Shouse with a single, Densmore drove in Antinozzi and White with a double, Drake Sutton walked, Jarod Whitmore drove in courtesy runner Parker Rhodes and Sutton with a 2 RBI ground rule double, and Trace Ledbetter drove in Whitmore. Going to the 2nd, the Dragons led the Bobcats, 6-0.
In the top of the 2nd inning, Brock Titus led off with a double for the Bobcats. With 1 out and the bases loaded, Densmore got out of the jam by striking out the batter for the second out, and picking off the runner at 2nd to send us to the bottom of the frame. In the bottom of the 2nd, Antinozzi led off with a walk, White followed with a double, Densmore drove in Antinozzi on a ground out, and Sutton drove in White with another grounder. Going to the 3rd, Pickens led Gilmer, 8-0.
In the top of the 3rd, Jess Buckner led off with a single, Spencer Merritt drove in Buckner with a single, Titus then drove in Merritt with a single. A 3rd run came across to score after Seth Darling was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. The Bobcats were looking for more, but a Kobe Stonecipher line drive was caught by James Tilley to send us to the bottom of the 3rd with the Dragons ahead, 8-3. In the bottom of the 3rd, after a 1-out single by Tilley, Shouse reached on a fielders choice, Antiozzi walked, then White walked to bring in Tilley. Densmore, drove in Shouse and Antinozzi with a double, and Sutton brought in White after a grounder to make it 12-3 Dragons going to the 4th.
JP Nunn came on in relief of Densmore in the top of the 4th for the Dragons and pitched well. Nunn collected a strikeout, and got the Bobcats to fly out to Rhodes on consecutive at bats to send us to the bottom of the inning. Pickens, looked to add to their lead in the bottom of the 4th, but left two runners stranded as we would head to the top of the 5th, still 12-3 Dragons.
Nunn needed just three pitches to get out of the top of the 5th as he induced a line out to Tilley, a grounder to Tilley, and a fly out to left field on consecutive pitches to send us to the bottom of the 5th. Rhodes got things started with a 1-out single, Nunn followed that with a single, Harlan Will got hit by a pitch to load the bases, and Whitmore drove in Rhodes to give the Dragons the 13-3 win over the Bobcats in 5 innings.
Dragons Stats:
Connor Shouse: 1 walk, 2 runs scored
Anthony Antinozzi: 2 walks, 3 runs scored
Hunter White: 2-2 with a single, a double, a walk, 1 RBI, & 2 runs scored
Parker Rhodes: 1-1 with a single & 2 runs scored
Seth Densmore: 2-2 with 2 doubles, & 3 RBI & 3 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 K, 1 walk
JP Nunn: 1-1 with a single & 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 walks, 1 K
Drake Sutton: 1 walk, 2 RBI, & 1 run scored
Jarod Whitmore: 2-4 with a double, a single, 3 RBI, & 1 run scored
Trace Ledbetter: 1-2 with a single, a walk, & 1 RBI
Trey Payne: 1 single
James Tilley: 1-2 with a single, a walk, & 1 run scored
The Dragons, will be back on the diamond on Saturday as they host the Murray County Indians and the Wheeler Wildcats. The baseball filled day starts off with Dragons taking on Murray County at 10 am. Murray will then turn around and play the Lumpkin County Indians at 12:30. Lumpkin, will then play Wheeler at 3. The final game will see the Dragons take on the Wildcats at 5:30.